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Top1. Introduction
Social media (SM) consists of Web 2.0 internet-based applications that allow for the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. From a business perspective, SM describes new sources of online information that are created, initiated, shared, and used by consumers to educate each other about products, brands, and services (Karim, 2011). SM can assume numerous different forms, including blogs, company sponsored discussion boards and chat rooms, consumer product or service ratings websites and forums, and social networking services. Social networking is one application that has grown rapidly in prevalence and popularity in recent years (Pempek et al., 2009). Because of this progression in social media, worldwide marketers are interested in having a presence on at least one social media platform. According to Bowman et al. (2012), social media is one of the fastest growing segments on the internet; such segmentation allows a company to promote its offerings to a specific target group.
At present, most consumers are using technology, and specifically social media, as a part of their online buying process. When companies interact with consumers on social media, they increase their number of potential customers. In addition to converting potential consumers into actual buyers, social media encourages users to share their buying experiences, including their positive or negative opinions of products (Parson, 2013). According to Pookulangara and Koesler (2011), about 25% of consumers post links about the products and services they bought in order to inform other buyers about the purchase process. Miller and Lammas (2010) state that social media plays a very important role in persuading consumers to shop online. Their study showed that 70% of consumers visit social media to get information about a particular product or service, about 49% of them make a buying decision, and 60% of them like to share information on social media.
A discussion about doing business online would not be complete without considering social network usage by firms. At present, consumer use of social media is growing, making it necessary for firms to figure out how to reach millions of people on a daily basis through social media. Retail stores with e-commerce business depend on Web 2 technologies like social media to increase their revenue (Vithayathil et al., 2017). It can be argued that firms that use a social network such as Facebook or Twitter to gain a higher return from their investment and increase sales. Although actual purchases do not happen through online social networks (because social networks do not provide full payment functions), social networks do guide buyers indirectly. While numerous researchers have highlighted the importance of online social media for a firm’s marketing activities, a limited amount of research examines the factors affecting buying intention through social media.
Studies from all over the world that investigate the buying intention through social media have focused on the impact of SM on consumer behavior perspectives (Hajli, 2013). Buying through online social media is still in the early stages and there is a shortage of research in this context. Researchers suggests that social media is now considered one of the most effective marketing tools and influences consumer behaviour. However, research in this area is neglected (Agarwal and Prasad, 1997). Paquette (2017), highlighted that although marketing through online social media is recognized as an important area of study, most research has focused on theoretical and experimental contexts, thus neglecting the factors affecting buying intention through online social networks. Thus, the contribution of this study is to supplement the rare literature related to the intention to buy products through online social networks.
The paper is organized as follows. First, we identify gaps in the research and issues related to this study, then we declare the problem statement and provide a literature review. Second, the research model and hypotheses are developed. Third, research methodology and structural models are presented. Finally, implications are presented along with conclusions, limitations, and future directions.